Tag Archives: Joshua 23-24

March 19, 2024 Bible Study

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

When we read the account of Joshua’s farewell speech to the Israelites, we typically focus on the choice which Joshua gives them, and his decision on that same choice.  Those are good things for us to take to heart, because we have the same choice to make, but we often misstate what the choice is, or how we arrive at which options we have.  Actually, Joshua gives two speeches here.  It is not clear to me whether or not they were to different audiences, or, if perhaps, they were recorded by different people who were present and later compiled into the single account which is the Book of Joshua.

In any case, in both Joshua recounts the great things which God has done for the Israelites, things which he had witnessed (and which many of them had witnessed many of as well).  Then he tells them that they should faithfully obey the commands which God had given them.  If you are reading this, God has done great things to bring you to this point in your life, and He has probably done at least some of them in ways which you knew were Him blessing you as He did them, so, Joshua’s suggestion applies to you (and me) as well.  We should fear God, serve Him with all faithfulness, and destroy all other gods which we might be tempted to serve in His place.  However, if we think serving God is not desirable, we need to decide which set of gods we will serve instead.  Do we believe that if we serve the government, it will deliver a better life for us than what God will give us if we serve Him?  Will we be better off, if we just pick the right man, or woman, to be our ruler (or group of them to be our rulers)?  Or, maybe we will be better off if we spend our life in the pursuit of physical pleasures?  However, I agree with Joshua, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 19, 2023 Bible Study — Will You Choose To Serve God?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

Today’s passage describes events which took place after all of those described earlier in this book.  The Israelites have all found land to live upon in the land.  While they have not driven all of the non-Israelites out of the land, for the most part they have destroyed all of the non-Israelite political power bases and are living at peace. Joshua realized that he would not be around much longer to provide the Israelites with guidance, so he calls an assembly of the leadership of the people.  First, I want to note that Chapter 23 appears to be a summary of the assembly which Joshua called with Chapter 24 going into more detail.  First Joshua reminded the people of all of the good things which God had done for them.  Then he called them to respond to those good things by faithfully serving God.  I am hoping that you, my readers, can agree with me, and Joshua, that the Lord has done wonderful things for you.  If that is the case, then I will join Joshua in calling on you to faithfully serve God.  Do not associate with the idol worship going on around us.  Do not serve the gods to which so many bow down and serve.  Hold fast to the Lord our God.  Just as there was a price to pay for the Israelites listening to Joshua, there is a price to pay for us if we choose to faithfully serve God.  But, there is a price to pay if you choose to serve the gods of those around us.  So, if you find the price of serving God too high, you must choose which other gods your will serve.  Our world offers many such gods, choose which ones you will serve!  Or, choose to serve the Lord of Lords, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Joshua chose to serve God, I choose to do likewise.  I hope you will join me in my choice, even with the high price which Jesus made clear to us.

Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 19, 2022 Bible Study — Will We Serve The Lord?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

We often focus on Joshua’s commitment when he asked the Israelite people to renew their covenant with God.

choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me, and my household, we will serve the Lord.

And that is a great quote to focus on, Joshua stated that no matter what the group chose, he had chosen to serve God.  We too should be willing to go against the crowd to serve God.  However, Joshua did not have to stand alone.  The people, inspired both by their experience of God’s power and Joshua’s example, also chose to serve the Lord.  They agreed with Joshua’s commitment and said, “We too will serve the Lord, because He is our God.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 19, 2021 Bible Study We Must Decide, Will We Serve God, or The gods Of Those Around Us

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Joshua 23-24.

When Joshua realized that he would soon die, he gathered the people of Israel in order to give a final address to them and renew their commitment to God.  Just as Moses had done in his final address, Joshua recapped the history of the people of Israel, reminding them that the people of Edom were their relatives (I am unsure of how this relates to the rest of Joshua’s address, but thought it seemed noteworthy).  Joshua focused this recap on all that God had done for them.  He reminded them that their conquest of the land did not result from their military prowess, but rather from God’s providence.  Perhaps as important as anything else in this part of Joshua’s address was his reminder that they were not to ally with the people of the land, nor intermarry with them, nor join in the worship of their gods.  I may be reading my own beliefs into this, but Joshua seems to imply that any of these people who wished to join Israel and worship the God of Israel were welcome to do so, but this must be a one-way street: no compromise, no meeting them in the middle.

Having finished his recap of the history of God blessing the people of Israel, Joshua brings up an issue which comes up again and again throughout the Old Testament (and truth to be told even today).  The people of Israel still carried with them gods their ancestors had worshiped back in the land of Ur, and others gods from Egypt and elsewhere.  Joshua told them that it was time to decide once and for all time whom they would serve.  Really, this is a decision which the Church in America must make today.  Will we serve the gods of the people among whom we live? The gods which call on us to sacrifice our children, either through abortion, or genital mutilation.  Or will we serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Each of us needs to answer this question for ourselves, just as Joshua did here.  I pray that each of you reading this will answer as Joshua did, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 19, 2020 Bible Study –Crisis Results When Those Who Dedicated Themselves To God Fail to Follow Through

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

This is one of several passages where I see an implicit statement that is not quite said outright.  Joshua called on the Israelites to choose what god(s) they would serve going forward.  God was but one of the options which Joshua gave to them.  The unspoken point which Joshua made was that if they chose God and later failed to faithfully serve Him it would be worse for them than if they chose some other god, or god, in the first place.  Which brings me to where I want to go with today’s blog.  At several points throughout modern history, the peoples of various countries which are part of Western Civilization have chosen to serve the God of Israel, often times with poorly formed understanding of what He truly wanted of them.  These acts of dedication have generally resulted in these countries becoming prosperous.  However, sooner or later, the peoples of these countries drifted away from serving God, in even the imperfect way which they started out.  This has always resulted in hardship and difficulty.

I see God’s judgment in the situation of the world today.  Following World War II many people in the countries of Western Civilization saw the evils that had led to that war and dedicated themselves to eradicating them.  That dedication was a dedication to serving God, although many of them had an imperfect understanding of what that meant. However, as time went on, more and more of those people rejected the idea of serving and worshiping God and crisis resulted.  In each of these crisis, a revival occurred and people turned once more to God.  Until we get to today, once more the world is facing a crisis.  This time I see few people turning to God.  I myself have been slow in examining the ways in which I have turned from God.  Because of that, I have failed to use this platform, limited as it is, to call others to turn to God.  Those of us who have previously dedicated ourselves to serving God must recognize that where we have failed to follow through on that dedication has contributed to the rise of this current crisis  We must turn to God and beg His forgiveness.

March 19, 2019 Bible Study — Today We Must Choose

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

Like Moses before him, when Joshua knew he was about to die he summoned the people of Israel and gave them a speech recounting what God had done for them.  I want to note that Joshua tells us that Abraham’s father worshiped other gods when he lived beyond the Euphrates.  This raises questions about my idea that Terah left Ur because of the idolatry there.

However, the most important part of Joshua’s speech was towards the end where he tells the people of Israel that they must choose today whom they will serve.  Joshua gives them three choices. They can serve God.  They can serve the gods which their ancestors worshiped when they lived “beyond the Euphrates”.  Or they can worship the gods which the people of the land they were now living worshiped.  After giving them this choice, Joshua males one of the great statements of faith, “as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  While this was certainly a rhetorical device to encourage the people to make the right decision, it was still a brave statement.  Joshua was saying, “I am calling on you as a people to choose what religion you will follow.  As a nation we cannot survive unless we all follow the same gods, or God.  However, if you choose some faith other than the worship of God, know that I and my family will not go along with you.”  We should follow Joshua’s example.  We need to point out to the people around us that if they do not choose to all worship the same gods, or God, they will not survive as a nation.  Along with that we need to make a statement that no matter what gods they choose to follow, we will serve God and teach out family to do likewise.

Finally, I want to return to something I had mentioned earlier.  I know of people who believe that the Bible is a source of great wisdom but do not truly believe in God’s power.  They look at the Old Testament and say that the ancient Israelites were polytheist, which is true.  However, they go on to say that the idea of monotheism is only a late development in what we now call the Jewish religion.  This passage shows that the latter part is not true.  Joshua makes his speech and his call for a choice because the Israelites were worshiping many gods (were polytheists), but he calls them to give up those other gods because worshiping other gods is incompatible with worshiping God.  The religion which Joshua preached, and Moses before him, was monotheistic.  The failure of the Children of Israel to practice monotheism does not change that.

March 19, 2018 Bible Study — We Must Choose We Can Either Serve God Alone, Or We Can Serve Other Gods

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

    When Joshua realized he was nearing the ned of his days he called the people of Israel together for one final admonishment/encouragement. Joshua reminded them of all the things God had done for them as they served Him and warned them against turning to other gods. He pointedly told them that they had to choose what gods they would serve. They could choose to serve the gods of the peoples who lived near the Euphrates, the gods of Egypt, or the gods of the people living in the land they had just conquered. Or they could choose to worship God alone, but if they chose God, they could serve only Him. This is a key message which people forget time and again. People repeatedly try to say that one can choose to follow Christ and take bits from other religions and follow those as well, but God makes it clear time and again, You must choose either to serve Him alone, or to serve those other gods. Other gods accept what portion of your worship and service they can get, but God demands all of it.

March 19, 2017 Bible Study — What Moral Code Will You Choose?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

    Scattered throughout the Old Testament I see passages which acknowledge that the people of Israel will need to interact with those who do not worship God. Here Joshua tells the Israelites in his final address that there are still many people in the land who they have not yet conquered. Joshua told them not to worship their gods, not to even talk about their gods. I struggle with gaining meaning from passages like this. Throughout the Old Testament I find hints which suggest that God intended for the people of Israel to assimilate their neighbors, while at the same time avoiding being corrupted by them. My interpretation of this passage is that we need to avoid getting pulled into discussing issues framed from the perspective of our non-Christian neighbors.

    In the latter part of his address, Joshua tells the people that they need to choose what god(s) or God they will serve. Here he makes a powerful statement which often distracts us from the heart of his message (I will get back to that statement in a minute). Joshua’s primary message to the people of Israel was that they needed to pick one, and only one, religious and cultural tradition to follow. They could choose the gods and cultural mores of the Egyptians, or those of their ancestors beyond the Euphrates, or those of the people living in the land, or they could choose to follow God. They could choose any one of these, but if they did not choose one they would cease to be a people. This is true of any and every nation, they must choose one religion and the morals that go with it, or in short order they will cease to be a nation.
    Having told the people that they needed to agree on what religion they would follow, he told them that he would not follow their lead. Joshua proclaimed that no matter what choice the rest of the Israelites made, he and his family would choose the Lord. In many ways what Joshua did here is something we are called to do today. Our nation (here I am speaking of the United States, but this is true of many other nations as well) no longer agrees on a single set of basic moral principles. We need to remind our neighbors that they need to, as a group, choose what moral philosophy they want to follow. Then we need to tell that no matter what one they choose, we have chosen, and will continue to choose, to follow God and His moral code.

March 19, 2016 Bible Study — Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

    This passage is Joshua’s farewell speech to the people of Israel. He tells the Israelites that they are not to associate with the people living in the land, to not intermarry with them, adopt their customs, or worship their gods. They are not to even mention the names of their gods. Instead they were to cling tightly to God Himself. The point here is that our focus should not be on what those around us do wrong, or that is not right. Our focus should be on doing what God tells us is right.

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    This passage also contains a great quote from Joshua, one which I love: “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” However, that quote comes after Joshua gives them a command. He told them to choose whom they would serve. Joshua laid before them their choices, the gods whom their ancestors worshiped in Sumeria, the gods of Egypt, the gods of the people in whose land they now lived, or God. The people resoundingly chose to worship and serve God. Yet, when they had done so, Joshua found it necessary to tell them to destroy their idols. If we have chosen to worship and serve God, what idols do we have that we need to destroy?